How CollegeLens builds the Specialty Worth-It Score

Specialty Worth-It Score is a professional-school decision aid. It compares total training cost with the income arc that matters for that audience, which usually means tight earnings during residency or clerkship followed by a much higher post-training salary band.

The score starts with total program cost, then subtracts any family support or service-based scholarship assumptions the borrower has already reported. From there, CollegeLens models the standard federal borrowing order before comparing the resulting monthly payments against both training income and later specialty income.

The specialty refinement options exist because the same medical, legal, dental, pharmacy, or veterinary school can lead to radically different compensation paths. Family medicine and orthopedic surgery should not share one salary denominator, and BigLaw should not be treated the same as public-interest law.

For undergraduate school and major earnings, the broader Worth-It Score draws primarily on the Census Bureau's Postsecondary Employment Outcomes (PSEO) experimental data product. Where PSEO does not cover a school and major, it falls back to the Census Bureau's American Community Survey Public Use Microdata Sample (ACS PUMS) for state-level earnings by field of degree, and then to federal field-of-study averages. We label which source backs your number.

We also surface a field demand outlook from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Employment Projections 2024-34, the federal forecast of occupational growth over the next decade. It is informational and does not change the Worth-It Score itself.

Occupation profiles, related careers, and skills come from the U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database, survey-based occupational data developed by the National Center for O*NET Development.

For law school applicants, the Worth-It Score includes outcomes data from the American Bar Association Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar. We use the school's Standard 509 disclosures for selectivity and tuition data, the annual Employment Outcomes report for 10-month JD placement, and the Bar Passage disclosure for first-time and ultimate bar exam pass rates. All three sources are public consumer disclosures published annually by the ABA. This information is shown alongside the score; it does not change the score math.

For medical school applicants (both MD and DO), the Worth-It Score includes outcomes data from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) for national MCAT, GPA, and debt context; the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM) for DO school enrollment data; the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) for specialty match rates; the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) for state physician workforce supply; and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for physician median wages by state and specialty. AAMC and NRMP data are cited with attribution to comply with their respective licensing terms. This information is shown alongside the score; it does not change the score math.

For pharmacy school applicants, the Worth-It Score includes outcomes data from the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) for school-level NAPLEX pass rates and the national NAPLEX and MPJE benchmarks, the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) for national graduate debt context, and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for pharmacist median wages by state. This information is shown alongside the score; it does not change the score math.

For dental school applicants, the Worth-It Score includes outcomes data from the American Dental Education Association (ADEA) for graduate debt and intended practice paths, the American Dental Association Health Policy Institute (ADA HPI) for national dentist workforce and income context, the Joint Commission on National Dental Examinations (JCNDE) for INBDE first-time pass rates, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) for state-level dentist supply, and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for dentist median wages by state. ADEA, ADA HPI, and JCNDE data are cited with attribution to comply with their respective licensing terms. This information is shown alongside the score; it does not change the score math.

For veterinary school applicants, the Worth-It Score includes outcomes data from the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Economic State of the Profession report for national debt and earnings context, the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC) Cost Comparison Tool for per-school tuition and scholarship data, and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for veterinarian median wages by state. AVMA and AAVMC data are cited with attribution to comply with their respective licensing terms. This information is shown alongside the score; it does not change the score math.

For broader context, the national six-year bachelor's completion rate is 64.5% and the four-year rate is 49.1% (NCES Digest of Education Statistics). Professional programs are separate from these undergraduate figures, but they frame why finishing on time matters for the debt math.

Specialty Worth-It Score is directional, not predictive. It helps you compare training paths using a stable set of assumptions before you sign for another year of debt.

Law school data: ABA Section of Legal Education, https://www.abarequireddisclosures.org/

Medical school data: AAMC FACTS (aamc.org) · AAMC Physician Education Debt Report · AACOM (aacom.org) · NRMP Match Data (nrmp.org) · HRSA AHRF · BLS OEWS

Pharmacy school data: NABP NAPLEX/MPJE pass rates (nabp.pharmacy) · AACP Graduating Student Survey (aacp.org) · BLS OEWS (SOC 29-1051)

Dental school data: ADEA Dentists of Tomorrow (adea.org) · ADA HPI (ada.org) · JCNDE Annual Report · HRSA AHRF · BLS OEWS

Veterinary school data: AVMA Economic State of the Profession (avma.org) · AAVMC Cost Comparison Tool (aavmc.org) · BLS OEWS (SOC 29-1131)